Ron Miller Classics of Science Fiction Bundle Five
The first true space travel stories weren't written until after 1610. Before then, no one knew for sure that there even were other worlds than this one. But Galileo's great discoveries changed all that. People began to wonder what these other worlds might be like and authors lost no time in getting their interplanetary stories into print. The earliest authors were at a loss regarding exactly how to get their heroes to the Moon and other worlds and had to resort to magic and other unlikely devices. The invention of the balloon was a godsend. For the first time a man-made device enabled humans to leave the surface of the Earth---and there was a renewed surge of space travel stories. Most of these authors merely used the Moon and planets as a convenient backdrop for social satire, but others took some pains to get the science correct---or at least as correct as knowledge of the time permitted. The books in this series run the gamut from from balloons to antigravity, from what may be the first interplanetary story ever written to the first suggestion ever for a passenger-carrying rocket.
Many of these books and stories have not been available in any form for decades. They all contain historical essays and other material written specially for this series by Ron Miller.
The first true space travel stories weren't written until after 1610. Before then, no one knew for sure that there even were other worlds than this one. But Galileo's great discoveries changed all that. People began to wonder what these other worlds might be like and authors lost no time in getting their interplanetary stories into print. The earliest authors were at a loss regarding exactly how to get their heroes to the Moon and other worlds and had to resort to magic and other unlikely devices. The invention of the balloon was a godsend. For the first time a man-made device enabled humans to leave the surface of the Earth---and there was a renewed surge of space travel stories. Most of these authors merely used the Moon and planets as a convenient backdrop for social satire, but others took some pains to get the science correct---or at least as correct as knowledge of the time permitted. The books in this series run the gamut from from balloons to antigravity, from what may be the first interplanetary story ever written to the first suggestion ever for a passenger-carrying rocket.
Many of these books and stories have not been available in any form for decades. They all contain historical essays and other material written specially for this series by Ron Miller.
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” In the decades preceding World War II, Germans and Austrians had every reason to believe that if anyone were to conquer space it would be them. Few nationalities had made as much progress in rocketry and astronautics in as short a period of time as they had. This is a young adult novel first published in 1928, about the first rocket ship flight to the moon, the story is based on the solid scientific work of Hermann Oberth and Max Valier and the lunatic pseudoscientific theories of Hans Horbiger. Gail was one of the most popular science fiction authors in Germany during the early 20th century.
Includes the original illustrations by Frank R. Paul
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” First published in English in 1929, Otto Willi Gail's little-known space travel novel is almost documentary in its realism. Based on the latest research by such pioneers in astronautics as Hermann Oberth and Max Valier, "The Shot Into Infinity" is not only an exciting and suspenseful novel but also an accurate mirror of the state of the art of space travel three-quarters of a century ago.
Includes the original illustrations by Frank R. Paul
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” Gail was one of the most popular science fiction authors in Germany during the early decades of the twentieth century. In this novel, a sequel to "The Shot Into Infinity", Gail combines several science fiction themes into a single exciting, suspenseful narrative: Space travel, including one of the first space stations to appear in fiction, Atlantis, the origins of ancient human cultures and the bizarre World Ice Theory of Hanns Horbiger, which eventually became an official science of Nazi racial theory. Although Horbiger was one of the great pseudoscientists of the twentieth century, Gail's descriptions of space travel were based meticulously on the work of astronautics pioneers Hermann Oberth and Max Valier. In addition to being a thrilling novel, this book is also an accurate mirror of the state of the art of astronautics as it existed more than three-quarters of a century ago.
Includes the original illustrations by Frank R. Paul
Contains a technical appendix
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” First published in English in 1930, this remarkable science fiction novel details the fate of three astronauts stranded in space after a daring trip to the moon. Based on the pioneering work of Hermann Oberth, this suspenseful novel is an accurate mirror of the state of the art of astronautics more than 70 years ago.
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” A short science fiction story written by one of the most colorful personalities of the early years of rocketry, Max Valier.
Ron Miller Classics of Science Fiction Bundle Five
The first true space travel stories weren't written until after 1610. Before then, no one knew for sure that there even were other worlds than this one. But Galileo's great discoveries changed all that. People began to wonder what these other worlds might be like and authors lost no time in getting their interplanetary stories into print. The earliest authors were at a loss regarding exactly how to get their heroes to the Moon and other worlds and had to resort to magic and other unlikely devices. The invention of the balloon was a godsend. For the first time a man-made device enabled humans to leave the surface of the Earth---and there was a renewed surge of space travel stories. Most of these authors merely used the Moon and planets as a convenient backdrop for social satire, but others took some pains to get the science correct---or at least as correct as knowledge of the time permitted. The books in this series run the gamut from from balloons to antigravity, from what may be the first interplanetary story ever written to the first suggestion ever for a passenger-carrying rocket.
Many of these books and stories have not been available in any form for decades. They all contain historical essays and other material written specially for this series by Ron Miller.
